Online Gallery

I'm curious how everyone presents their online gallery to their clients.

Do you offer online gallery with a shopping cart built in (so they can purchase photos online)? If so, do you use an already established company (i.e. pictage) or just a basic shopping cart PHP script?

If you don't offer a shopping cart, do you use just a simple Photoshop gallery? Lightroom gallery? Simpleviewer? I've seen many people offer the ShowitWeb slideshow and just include the option for thumbnails, do you guys do this also?

Just curious to see how everyone else does it. I am sort of juggling between integrating one into my website, and having someone like Pictage do it. I just don't know if I am all for someone else doing print fulfillment. Plus, I'm in Canada and so would most of my clients be, so, shipping/customs taxes would be outrageous.

I'd love to see what you guys are doing. If possible, post a gallery the way you would present it to the customer. I think if we can get a wealth of information here, it may eliminate a lot of the silly questions I see around.

For now, I'm using Smugmug... I pay 150 bucks a year for the pro access which allows me to set my own prices and customize each gallery to my liking. http://www.jclarkphoto​.net/Weddings

I'm also exploring other options for next year like purchasing a website template with a built-in shopping cart and customizing it myself with Dreamweaver. I've used Allwebco templates in the past and will probably purchase another one for my photography business...

Hey Bryan, I use photoreflect. I've not had a problem with them online, it's hooked to my guy who does my printing OR I can have items that I do myself.

I love the online gallery, people seem to like it, and IT"S FREE! another plus.

Some scoff at it, but It's been ok for me.

I'm using a smugmug pro site also. Print ordering and individualized pricing is built in so a lot of that hassle is avoided. You only need to set pricing once so after you upload the images, the rest is largely between the customer and smugmug. You do lose the ability to have a different print lab so, as with everything, there are some compromises. Smugmug's customer service is outstanding and it works great nearly all the time (slowness at times).

We use EOS Template (www.eostemplate.com) to generate a gallery with shopping cart which we then load into password-protected folders on our own webspace. We do our own print fulfilment. Setting EOS Template up can be a bit fiddly and clunky because it's a matter of changing text files - however once it's set up with your print pricing, etc., generating a new gallery is dead easy.

Rob

I actually use the EE Exhibit Engine found here on the site, with shopping cart functionality. Works really well, and allows users to leave notes, comments, ratings and can be privatized. It's open source, the best kind of software there is.. (thanks Pekka..)

i use collages.net it's similar to pictage, but cheaper. clients can purchase prints right from the gallery. here's a sample from an e-session i did earlier this year.

http://www.collages.ne​t …om&html=0&custo​mization=1

Neither ... when I go to my portrait sessions, I take along a package (of course!) that has my business card, magnet, newsletter, thank you letter and also order forms. With weddings, I would deliver the order forms along with their printed proofs.

I put up a regular gallery with the proof number on top of the photo. When my clients want to order, they simply fill out the order forms I provided to them and mail me a cheque. Or, I can send them a PayPal invoice if they want to phone their order in.

Best part of this method is that it doesn't cost me anything to maintain a gallery and accept credit cards, outside of the PayPal fee from the rare client who prefers to pay that way. I am going to start tacking on an additional fee if they pay by PayPal, just to cover what PayPal takes off the top.

I'm using EOS Template, but this system is what i'd probably buy now, and will probably buy in the future.

I use this site http://www.ifp3.com/in​dex.cfm the galleries are easy to use the uploading is good and the sales cart is very good, and you have limitless image storage.

I just put up a page of pictures on my site with a link to all the wedding/Event gallery pictures.

Simple and easy.

Martin

tim wrote in post #4088662
I'm using EOS Template, but this system is what i'd probably buy now, and will probably buy in the future.

Where are they based? (PicturesPro)

tim wrote in post #4088662
I'm using EOS Template, but this system is what i'd probably buy now, and will probably buy in the future.

I've been looking at this as well. Looks good, and apparently can be adjusted for currencies other than US$.

I'm currently just using JAlbum and an 'email me for orders' type situation. I don't make much money off prints. This may be one reason why!

jessiper wrote in post #4088816
Where are they based? (PicturesPro)

No idea.

tim wrote in post #4088937
No idea.

Ah. Thanks!

I am using Pictures Pro that Tim mentioned. Photocart is a great product, and is quite customizable. I was thinking of writing something in ASP myself to do it all, because it's SEEMED quite simple enough. Display pic, show print sizes, add to cart.. voila.

well... no...

Once I saw all the things Photocart does, I realized that building something like this is WAYYYYYY over my head and should be left to a pro. Soooo many little features, options, settings that I never even thought about, but are necessary for a system like this to work.

Photocart was also stupidly easy and fast to set up. I bought it, and you can even have the guy who wrote it (his name is also Tim) install it on your webserver and set up the database FOR you. For a measly $40 or so, it was soooo worth it. I set up all my options within a couple hours and it was running and ready to go. I called him personally a couple times and he answered all my questions. Great service.

I was on Pictage.... and learned one thing: Canadians don't want to buy stuff from the States. They were paying EXTRA shipping, and had to wait over TWICE as long to get their prints. Also, because everything comes out of sunny and humid California... many of their products did not adjust to the dry edmonton climate well at all! Books were warping like crazy. Nasty stuff.